Liverpool and Bury Railway

Liverpool and Bury Railway

LOPR and LBR diverge.
Overview
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale Lancashire
North West England
Operation
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Northern
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in
(1,435 mm)
standard gauge

Liverpool and Bury Railway

Legend
East Lancashire Railway
Bury Interchange
Manchester Metrolink
Bury (Knowsley Street)
Bury (Bolton Street)

Manchester, Bury and
Rossendale Railway
East Lancashire Railway
 
Radcliffe Black Lane
Bradley Fold
Ribble Valley Line
Darcy Lever
Bolton Trinity Street
Manchester and
Bolton Railway
Lostock Junction
Bolton and
Preston Railway
Chew Moor
Westhoughton
Manchester and
Southport Railway
Hindley
Lancashire Union Railway's
Whelley Loop
Ince
Wigan
North Union Railway
Gathurst

Liverpool to Wigan Line
Manchester and
Southport Railway
Pemberton
Orrell
Upholland
Rainford Junction
Skelmersdale Branch
St Helens Railway
Kirkby
Fazakerley
Liverpool, Ormskirk
and Preston Railway
Preston Road
Liverpool, Crosby and
Southport Railway
Kirkdale
Sandhills
 
to Moorfields,
Liverpool Exchange
Liverpool Central
and Hunts Cross

The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed in 1845 and opened on 28 November 1848. The line ran from Liverpool Exchange first using a joint line with Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway before branching off to proceed via Kirkby then Wigan and Bolton to Bury.

Mergers

In 1846 the line merged with the Manchester & Leeds Railway being eventually finished after the merger to form the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR). The portion of the line west of Crow Nest Junction eventually formed part of the LYR's 59.5 kilometres (37 mi) Liverpool to Manchester route via a junction with the Manchester and Southport Railway at Wigan. From 1858 the line was connected to the Skelmersdale Branch and the St. Helens Railway at Rainford Junction. A short tunnel was bored through a hill between Upholland station and Orrell station.

The line today

With the exception of the section from Bolton to Bury (closed on 5 October 1970, along with the continuation through to Castleton) the line is still in use, though Liverpool Exchange station closed in the 1970s being replaced by Liverpool Moorfields in Merseyrail's Link Tunnel.

The line from Liverpool city centre to Kirkby is electrified with a DC third rail forming a part of Merseyrail's Northern Line. At present, services from Kirkby onwards are operated by diesel trains though there are plans for the Merseyrail electrified line to be extended towards Wigan with a new terminus at Headbolt Lane. Long term aspirations are to extend Merseyrail to Wigan on this line. The Wigan to Bolton section meanwhile is used by Manchester Airport to Southport and Wigan to Manchester Victoria local services.

References


    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.